Just excuse Chet Anuszewski if he feels that way. Lakeland's senior quarterback picked apart the GAR defense, throwing for 205 of his 232 yards in the first half, and Chris Roche's three touchdowns and opportunistic play on defense helped the Chiefs stave off the Grenadiers, 27-19.

"Usually, Lakeland is a high-powered running offense," Anuszewski said. "But once we went to the air, I've got some high-powered receivers. I couldn't be happier with our performance."

Overall, the Chiefs weren't satisfied with their performance. They were penalized eight times. They missed tackles. They struggled to get a body on, never mind block, Grenadiers linebacker Rich Sickler, who piled up 12 tackles in the first half. They lost a fumble at the GAR 1, with a touchdown seemingly inevitable.

But when the Chiefs needed a big play, they always seemed to get it.

Led by Sickler, the GAR defense proved more than up to the task of stifling Lakeland's always dangerous running game early on. But once Anuszewski got going, the Grenadiers couldn't seem to slow him down.

On his first pass attempts as Lakeland's starter, he hit a wide-open Gavin O'Donnell up the seam on second-and-9, and O'Donnell sprinted to the end zone to put the Chiefs ahead, 6-0.

The teams traded scores throughout the first half, though. GAR answered that pass with a 10-play, 65-yard drive capped by Anthony Maurent's 5-yard touchdown run. Not to be outdone, Roche came through with a 7-yard run for a score that made it 12-7.

Sickler had a big game for GAR, registering 15 tackles, five for loss, and that fumble recovery in the end zone. But he wasn't too shabby on offense either. He rushed for 161 yards on 16 carries, including a 35-yard touchdown run that made it 13-12 with less than five minutes to go in the first half.

But with the ball at GAR's 48 and just 42 seconds left, Anuszewski and the Lakeland passing attack showed their mettle.

He completed four of his five passes on the drive, culminating in a 13-yard strike to Roche with 11 seconds left. Roche's two-point conversion run made it 20-13 at halftime.

"Last year, they threw the ball well against us, and even in the two scrimmages we were able to see, we were really impressed with their quarterback," GAR coach Paul Wiedlich Jr. said.

The Grenadiers showed they weren't going away in the second half, coming out of the locker room with an 11-play, 79-yard drive Maurent finished with a 2-yard touchdown run. But the extra point clanked off the right upright, and Lakeland still led by one.

Roche took it from there.

On Lakeland's next drive, he carried five times for 18 yards, the last eight of which came on a scoring run over left tackle that put Lakeland ahead 27-19.

GAR had two more drives, but both ended with Lakeland defensive stops.

Roche dropped Grenadiers quarterback Rashaun Mathis for a four-yard loss on fourth-and-5 with 9:40 to go, and Jordan Tratthen got Mathis to fumble when he sacked him on third-and-9 with less than 40 seconds to go. Josh Wayman picked it up, and Lakeland had its win.

"Before the game, I told the players there were going to be emotional highs and emotional lows," Roche said. "We had to control those and do what we had to do tonight."

Contact the writer: dcollins@timesshamrock.com

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